21 Mar 2023

 Efforts made by government to empower citizen by reserving certain business activities for them suffer self-inflicted regression, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela has said.

Minister Kgafela said this when he was responding to issues raised by some MPs on the ministry’s budget estimates for the 2023/2024 financial year on March 20.

The minister lamented that foreign business people were now dominating and engaging in businesses reserved for citizens through fronting. On paper, he said such a business would be registered under citizens, while that person was hardly engaged in the operations of such a business entity. He said foreigners were anchoring on Batswana to run such businesses.

Mr Kgafela thus warned that fronting was a criminal offence, saying, ‘it is an administrative offence. The unfortunate part is that the law enforcement authorities are not well equipped on dealing with economic crime. Investigators such as the police and courts of law must be trained on economic crime’.

He also concurred that the Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) was established to resuscitate the economy of a town that was once anchored on mining, adding however that he was not in a position to clarify how the planned changes on SPEDU would unfold because there was no intention to relocate its services from Selebi Phikwe.

He indicated that the proposed changes to SPEDU would not be done with the intention for people to lose their jobs.

“It is government’s wish for the businesses in Selebi Phikwe to be sustained and contribute meaningfully to the livelihoods of the people and the national economy. SPEDU continues to facilitate high impact projects in terms of investment value, job creation, contribution to reduction of import bill and food security,” the minister said.

To date, he said SPEDU had facilitated 147 companies out of which 83 were at an advanced stage of development. “The companies have cumulatively created 2 835 jobs to date,” he said. On the International Merchandise Statistics Report of October last year issued by Statistics Botswana, Minister Kgafela said total imports were valued at over P7bn while total exports amounted to over P3.9m.

He further indicated that in line with government’s efforts to promote an export-led economy, the ministry continued to come up with interventions to facilitate export development and investment promotion.

“Structural policy reforms needed to boost competitiveness remain essential in achieving national goals of Vision 2036 which are geared towards achieving prosperity for all. Therefore, economic research and data reforms are more imperative and crucial in driving policy decisions and setting objectives and targets,” he said.

Commenting on the proposed budget estimates presented by the minister, Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana indicated that although appreciating efforts made by government to empower citizen-owned business he was concerned by rumours of possible relocation of SPEDU activities from the mining town.

He indicated that SPEDU remained the hope and lifeline for people in Selebi Phikwe and its peripheries, therefore it would be unfortunate for it not to achieve its mandate. The legislator therefore urged government to ensure that services and products that were produced by companies under SPEDU and also the Small, Medium and Macro Enterprises in the town, were nurtured and given the necessary support.

Specially Elected MP, Dr Unity Dow urged government to assess and focus on industries that were to be developed with the potential to achieve the strategic initiative of diversifying the economy. Dr Dow said such a decision must be supported by study. 

“It appears like government wants to go into developing health and agriculture industries and with the support of data it will be clear what government is intending to achieve,” she said.

For his part, Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere said trade and business required honesty and precise measures to sustain and retain customer base.

“Government must be honest in its trade decisions in order to improve and empower locally owned and attract investors,” Mr Tshere argued, adding that the ease of doing business was an important aspect for investors to come to Botswana. Ends